The Austria screenwriters association represents the professional interests of screenwriters in Austria. The purpose of the non-profit association is to represent and promote the artistic, economic, legal and cultural interests of screenwriters against radio and television broadcasters, publishers, the film industry, trade unions and ministries, legislative bodies and all film funding institutions. The association's main tasks also include services such as advice on contracts, funding submissions and all aspects of screenwriting.
 
The association is a member of the umbrella organization of Austrian filmmakers and the FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) and is represented on numerous boards and committees (including the Artists' Social Insurance Fund, the Austrian Film Institute, the jury for the foreign Oscar, the collecting society).

The association was founded in 1989.
The Drehbuchforum Wien and the Drehbuchverband Austria are partner organizations.

Service, advice and initiatives
Our ongoing services include advice on contracts, funding submissions and other important aspects of screenwriting. We inform screenwriters about events, training courses and submission deadlines via our newsletter and social media profiles.

ORF Austrian Broadcasting
In 2023, we were able to renegotiate the script fees with a very pleasing result.
The book fees will be increased to 10% for the total fee. In addition, a significant improvement has been achieved in the distribution of fees: up to now, this has been around 1/6 each at signature and acceptance and around 2/3 as a total buy-out at the start of production. In future, larger portions of the fee will be paid on signing and acceptance - namely 27.5% each.
This agreement is of course also applicable on instalments to shorter serial formats. It is valid until the end of 2024, at which point talks on a fee adjustment are to be resumed.
 
After this, some points of the ORF General Terms and Conditions that have long been outdated, sometimes unusual in the industry or even immoral, need to be changed. These include the regulations on script approval, revisions and rewrites and general points that we have already called for in Drehbuch2021. Two successful negotiation meetings with ORF representatives have already taken place this year and we are well on the way to revising the ORF T&Cs.
 
 
Representativeness
We want to submit an application in accordance with the copyright law in order to establish representativeness for the professional group of screenwriters in Austria and thus be able to demand negotiations, e.g. on fees or contractual conditions with broadcasters, etc. Until now, this has only been possible through ‘goodwill’. In order to achieve representativeness, we have to prove to the supervisory authority of the collecting societies that we are also supported by a large part of the profession. This includes the recruitment of new members and the evaluation of our members' participation in scripts for television and cinema. This extensive evaluation led to the reliable result that slightly more than 70 % of Austrian screenplays made into films are written by our members, meaning that our association represents the vast majority of Austrian screenwriters. This would correspond to the limit set by the supervisory authority. We will submit the formal application for representativeness soon.
 
 
Drehbuch 2021 - Screenplay2021 initiative
With Drehbuch2021, the Austrian Screenplay Association has developed standards for Austria that define the conditions for fair and cooperative collaboration between producers, broadcasters, directors and screenwriters - a kind of seal of quality to which all those involved are committed. The paper includes a series of concrete demands and was presented at the 2021 Diagonale. These range from fair contractual conditions and fair remuneration to having a say in key steps within the production process and adequate credit in all exploitation measures.
The guidelines were presented to the producers‘ associations, the directors’ associations and the ORF in internal preliminary discussions and were sent to all relevant stakeholders and are largely supported, especially by the ORF.
In 2023, we used a detailed questionnaire sent out to our members to evaluate whether the goals we set with Drehbuch2021 could be met. There have been some improvements - especially in areas where these can be implemented free of charge - but also areas that are slow to respond to the requirements. A working group has been formed to look at the standardisation of screenplay credits. They will present their credits guidelines to the industry next autumn.
 

Guidelines for credits
Following the demands of the ‘Screenplay 2021’ initiative, we want to take measures to improve the working environment for authors on an economic, legal and practical level. One of the most important aspects of this is the regulation of credits. This is why we have developed a comprehensive 43-page guide.
This guideline follows a structure that differs from similar regulations of other organisations. Nevertheless, thanks are due to several organisations whose credit manuals have been the inspiration for this paper: Dramatikerförbundet Sweden, Danske Dramatikere, Deutscher Drehbuchverband, Federation of Screenwriters of Europe - Thanks to all colleagues in this regard.
Despite the differences mentioned, these guidelines should result in the same credits. This is absolutely necessary due to the numerous Austrian co-productions with European partners.
The guide is not yet officially in circulation, final revisions are still being made, it will be published at the end of the year.

Copyright / Artificial Intelligence Initiative
As Marie-Therese Thill put it in her speech before the presentation of the Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award 2024, the technology of artificial intelligence is ‘plunging or leading’ us into a transformation within the industry.
Following the impressive and disturbing contributions on the topic of artificial intelligence during the annual conference of the Copyright Initiative, which took place in November 2023, we focused on the topic at the beginning of the year.
In March, author and dramaturge Oliver Schütte gave a lecture on the topic of ‘AI in script development’, which attracted a great deal of interest from the entire industry. His subsequent one-day workshop ‘Writing with AI’ was not held once as planned, but three times due to overwhelming demand from our members.
At a think tank on the topic of AI at the Austrian Filmfestival Diagonale 2024 with around 40 participants, including all major funding bodies and associations as well as representatives of ORF and numerous screenwriters, we succeeded in literally bringing the most important players together to discuss the challenges posed by this new technology.
As a result, we want to adapt our model contracts accordingly this year.

 
What our members write
In line with the Screenplay2021 initiative, the Screenplay Association Austria launched the social media campaign ‘What our members are writing’ on Facebook and Instagram at the end of 2021. The aim is to provide information about current film adaptations of screenplays by members of the Drehbuchverband Austria and to draw attention to the importance of screenwriters. The campaign is based on the similar campaign of the DDV - German Screenplay Association. It is very important to us to continue this campaign and our rising social media figures reflect the great interest in the screenwriting trade.

Model contracts - revision: artificial intelligence
In order to keep our sample contracts (developed by lawyer Harald Karl) up to date, it is necessary to address new technologies such as artificial intelligence. We started the year with a focus on this topic and will now incorporate the knowledge gained into a revision of the frequently requested model contracts.
Model contracts for scriptwriters include contracts for cinema feature film, television and film treatment, as well as the contracts for co-authors, script editors and script options. The continuous strive to establish standards and practices in the domestic film industry and to strengthen the independence of the authors during contract negotiations is visibly improving.
The model contracts are used as a template as a whole but also in parts, they are broken down into individual components for better usability and adaption. Each element of the contract contains a commentary to add clarity and in some cases examples to ensure better adaptability.
The contracts were created after intensive work especially in the communication with our members. We understand this publication as a work-in-progress process, where we welcome suggestions and ideas for ongoing edits.
 
 
Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award
With prize money totalling 22,000 euros, the Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize is one of the most important film awards in the country. This year it celebrates its 30th anniversary, which is why a prize sculpture is to be awarded for the first time. The prize is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Civil Service and Sport and is awarded by the Austrian Screenwriting Association. The award ceremony took place as part of the Diagonale in Graz on  April 8, 2024.
The Thomas Pluch Main Prize 2024, endowed with 12,000 euros, went to: Des Teufels Bad by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Thomas Pluch Special Jury Prize, endowed with 7,000 euros, went to: Sleeping with a Tiger by Anja Salomonowitz and the Thomas Pluch Prize for short or medium-length cinema feature films, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to: Felix Krisai and Pipi Fröstl for Strangers Like Us (Zaungast).
For the first time the Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Culture, Werner Kogler presented the prizes in person and thus showed his appreciation for the work of the screenwriters.
 
 
Promotion of young talent
One of the tasks we will be pursuing in 2024 is to focus more on the needs of up-and-coming authors. What are their concerns, where do they need the most support, how do they make the leap into the professional field?
We will be working on answers and how to implement them over the next few months.